Feeling tired? Blame it on non-stop notifications

On most mornings, 29-year-old Saloni Dahake, who works with an OTT network in Mumbai, wakes up to the sound of Slack. A faint buzz at 7.12am, followed by another at 7.16am. By the time she finishes brushing her teeth, her phone has about 12 notifications—half work, half personal—but her body cannot distinguish between the two. “It feels like death by a thousand cuts,” she says. “On a case-by-case basis it’s nothing, but by 6pm I’m exhausted, not because of work but due to the constant switching.” This exhaustion which is quiet and cumulative is now one of the most widespread mental health crises of our time.

This is not stress in the traditional sense, but ambient stress: an invisible hum of micro-demands, notifications, nudges and unread messages that keep the nervous system in a state of continuous partial attention. Unlike acute stress which is visible, dramatic and time-bound—ambient stress rarely triggers alarms. It doesn’t spike; it lingers, quietly shaping our emotional, cognitive and physical health.

Psychologists say we are witnessing a shift from situational stress to systemic stress. Situational stress arises from specific events and resolves once the moment passes. Systemic stress, by contrast, is built into daily life and is sustained by constant digital inputs that demand attention without offering closure. This condition is engineered by the attention economy, where platforms and tools are designed to monetise attention by keeping the mind perpetually engaged and rarely at rest.

THE ALWAYS-ON STATE

Stress was once a survival signal. The body surged into alertness, dealt with a threat, then returned to baseline. But today’s stress takes many forms driven by the prevalence of technology. Delhi-based clinical psychologist Kanika Jindal, notes stress has undergone a radical expansion. The modern mind must process multiple layers of stimulation such as screens, notifications and constant context-switching. Jindal distinguishes between productive stress, a purposeful activation before a presentation or deadline, and informational stress, which is far more insidious. “Informational overload—through the usage of news apps, digital newsletters and social media—doesn’t just exhaust us cognitively, it causes emotional burnout and a significant drop in productivity,” she says. “People aren’t worn out because the work is intense—but because the input feels endless.”

Organizational psychologist Asif Upadhye, founder of the Mumbai-based employee engagement firm Never Grow Up, puts it bluntly: “Stress has had a glow-up. It no longer roars, it pings.” The modern worker is not escaping predators; they’re escaping unread WhatsApp messages, DMs, and emails marked “urgent”. Every alert triggers what Ahmedabad-based neuroscientist Abhijeet Satani describes as a micro-jolt, a small amygdala-mediated moment in which the brain evaluates importance. The prefrontal cortex must then reorient attention, even if the ping is irrelevant. Multiply this by a few hundred times a day, and the brain enters a continuous “ready” state. “Alpha waves which support relaxed focus fade,” Satani explains. “What remains is rapid task-switching mode. The brain gets good at reacting fast and bad at concentrating.

This rewiring is now visible in everyday behaviour. People struggle to read long articles; podcast attention spans have shrunk; and news consumption is reduced to headlines or Inshorts. Even leisure apps mirror work apps, blurring mental boundaries. Mumbai-based clinical psychologist Samriti Makkar Midha explains that every notification forces a micro-decision—whether to ignore it, open it, reply, or prioritise it—thereby overloading working memory, which can hold only about four meaningful chunks of information at a time. Over time, neuroplasticity strengthens circuits built for rapid switching rather than sustained focus, which is why the modern mind can feel scattered even on otherwise quiet days.

THE INVISIBLE STRESS

Unlike acute stress (a conflict, a deadline), ambient stress is subtle and often nameless. It doesn’t erupt but accumulates. Jindal calls this the “new normal” of irritability, fogginess, and emotional sensitivity. Clients often tell her, “I don’t know why I’m so tired. Nothing bad happened today.” But something did happen—hundreds of tiny cognitive intrusions.

Upadhye describes ambient stress as “running too many tabs”. When many small tensions accumulate, emotional regulation declines. You respond rather than reflect. A minor task evokes irritation; a colleague’s tone feels sharper than usual; and decisions start to rely on what’s quick or familiar, not meaningful. Satani adds memory suffers as the brain never gets uninterrupted time for consolidation. This creates a chilling loop: forgetfulness leads to more stress, which worsens memory.

Divya Ganapathy, 33, a creative producer in Mumbai, describes an “always humming” mental state. “I had a 15-day break between jobs and my brain didn’t know what to do with the free time.” Her role requires juggling 45+ unread WhatsApp work chats, 60–100 emails a day, 25+ active Slack channels and meetings from 10am to 8pm. She calls her weekend task of catching up on messages “Sunday cleaning and laundry”, a mental chore. Upadhye explains this through the concept of Attention Residue which is the mental leftovers of incomplete tasks.

“When you check even one email on vacation, your brain never fully transitions to the beach. A part of it stays on alert.” Midha adds apps are designed to resurface conversations and even during downtime, algorithms tug you back. Therefore, people intentionally go offline by travelling to remote areas, use airplane mode, or delete apps temporarily. Dahake experiences “notification rage”which is anger at non-urgent queries that erupt before noon. “I’m irritable with people I love because all my bandwidth gets used up fighting digital noise.” Jindal warns that this chronic invisible stress elevates cortisol over long periods, weakening immunity, disturbing digestion, and worsening sleep, often without people recognising the root cause.

“Acute stress rises and fades but low-grade stress sits quietly in the system, wearing you down bit by bit,” says Upadhye.” Symptoms include irritability for no obvious reason, emotional oversensitivity, cognitive fog and chronic fatigue. What helps is not dramatic lifestyle shifts but small, sustainable boundaries.

HOW TO RECALIBRATE

1. Reduce inputs, not outputs: Upadhye recommends “no-notification windows” and scheduled message checks. These create buffer zones for the brain to reset. Dahake does this by removing Slack from her home screen and burying apps in folders, creating friction. “I have to intentionally search for work apps now. It helps more than I expected.”
2. Set digital hours: Ganapathy practices phone-free mornings and evenings, and has a rule: If it’s important, they will call. It has changed her baseline anxiety. Midha recommends disabling notifications post-evening hours, setting “zen time.”
3. Single-tasking: Jindal encourages clients to adopt the “one-task rule” to reduce cognitive fragmentation. Clutter, both physical and digital, must be cleared.
4. Grounding and body awareness: Mapping where stress shows up in the body, followed by slow breathing and grounding techniques, helps recalibrate the nervous system. This shifts the body out of “braced mode.”
5. Redefine stress as a signal, not defeat: Upadhye says reframing stress is transformative: “Stress is simply a cue that one needs rest, clarity or boundaries. When you stop treating it like failure, the emotional weight lifts immediately.” Satani echoes this: Stress is the body asking for order, not punishment.

Divya Naik is an independent writer based in Mumbai.